A look at the community a year after the San Bernardino attacks and where the fight against terror might go from here, locally, nationally and globally.
Police crisis counselor recalls first-hand trauma of San Bernardino attack
On December 2, 2015 Angelika Robinson, a psychologist who specializes in counseling first responders, like the police, was working at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.
She was there when shooting broke out. Husband and wife, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, armed with high-powered rifles, opened fire at a holiday party. Fourteen People died and 22 were seriously wounded. Robinson herself was unharmed but she found that in the day and months after ward, she had her work cut out for her.
Robinson connects deeply with that work - helping law enforcement officers work through their emotions after critical incidents. "What I feel very strongly about is being able to help those who show up for us. Who show up for the general public and who put themselves in danger," Robinson tells Take Two's Alex Cohen. "Who's there for them? Who watches out for them? Who makes sure that they're able to stay intact and that they're able to live a healthy life."
Robinson has worked with first responders for years, and has helped guide law enforcement through the process of dealing with grief after trauma. "The first thing really that we focus on is identifying what those reactions are that they've had after a critical incident," she says. "It's very important, it's very crucial for first responders to know that whatever the reactions are that they're having that they're normal."
But after the San Bernardino shooting, she had her own trauma to deal with.
The day of the San Bernardino terror attack
On December 2nd, 2015, Angelika Robinson was conducting some routine mental health assessments when she first heard gun shots.
"I then walked down the hallway to the glass doors that faced the other building and saw people running towards me," Robinson recalls. "As they burst through they yelled they're shooting everywhere, they're shooting everywhere. Some of them, their clothes were blood stained. At that point the alarm went off and we were told there's an active shooter and we were instructed to hide in an inside office in our building ... until police would allow us to come out."
It was a difficult situation. But as a mental health professional, Robinson was prepared.
She remained in the room with others, some of who were directly in the middle of the shooting. Robinson noticed one woman who was particularly distraught.
"I went over to her and I just kept thinking, I need to distract her. I need her to focus on something else. Not just for her sake, but because we were in a room with about 30 other people and I wanted to make sure the room didn't escalate into a panic," Robinson says. "I asked her to get out her phone and show me pictures on her phone and she told me about her son and we talked about her dogs."
It worked. Helping her fellow survivor also put her own mind at ease. "It was helpful because I realized that I was able to do something, Robinson says, "I couldn't get out of the room and do something. So it was helpful to me because it gave me a purpose."
The difficulty of returning to her work
Robinson too was struggling with the emotions she was feeling. She had difficulty sleeping, tearfulness and survivor's guilt. She'd eventually work through them with the help of family and colleagues. But there was one sensation that she didn't expect to feel: Shame.
"Because I was in some way involved in this event I couldn't provide services and I couldn't work with the first responders afterwards," Robinson says. "That was the most difficult part for me because I didn't understand what my role was. I felt benched and I felt sidelined and I felt in a sense like I'd betrayed those individuals that I promised to help."
But eventually Robinson was able to get back to work. She says that because of everything she's gone through, she believes that working with first responders in her field feels more meaningful than ever.
"In a strange way I feel better equipped and I feel even more comfortable because there is that underlying understanding of what it's like."
To hear the full conversation, click the blue player above
Homegrown terror: One year after San Bernardino, are we safer?
Exactly one year ago, a mass-shooting in the city of San Bernardino took 14 lives and left 22 wounded.
Armed with high-powered rifles, the suspects, husband and wife Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire at a holiday party at a building called the Inland Regional Center and then fled the scene.
The pair were killed hours later in a shootout with police.
In the days that followed, FBI Director James Comey said that the couple showed signs of extremism and "...their joint commitment to jihad [and] martyrdom" in online conversations before meeting face-to-face.
So what has law enforcement learned since the attacks? And is the country safer today than it was one year ago?
Take Two put that question to Erroll Southers, Director of Homegrown Violent Extremism Studies at USC.
Highlights
There have been several acts of terror around the world from Africa and the Middle East to the truck attack on Bastille day in France. We can't forget the Orlando nightclub shooting in June that left 49 dead and has been characterized as terrorism and a hate crime. As this year ends, how would you describe this past year?
This past year has clearly demonstrated the importance of countries focusing on what we call homegrown terrorism. The attacks in the United States, the attacks in France, have largely been perpetrated by individuals who were either born in those countries or naturalized citizens.
We've come to the realization now that, as we have concerns about immigrants and refugees, a larger concern has to rest with those people who are native to the country.
How are local law enforcement agencies and the federal government working together to investigate and battle homegrown extremism, and how has that changed in the past year?
What's changed in the last year are tremendous efforts of community outreach. Law enforcement agencies and communities have had to partner even more aggressively now because we have a threat that is mostly hidden within communities and families that are hesitant to report because it may be someone that they know or maybe an immediate family member.
Would you say progress has been made when it comes to preventing things like what we saw in San Bernardino last year?
The challenge comes, not so much with regards to agencies reaching out, but it's the way in which it's done.
If you reach out to a community based on their race, based on their religion or ethnicity, there's pushback because, in most cases, those communities might ask, 'well, why are you coming to me? I'm not a terrorist. Why would you talk to me about that?' So, it's a very delicate balance of building a relationship not on countering violent extremism; it's building a relationship based more on public safety and then getting to that point where you can have the conversations about the threat of homegrown terrorism.
Is the United States safer than it was on December 2nd of 2015?
I think we are safer right now than we were last year at this time. I think we are demonstrably safer since 9/11. Agencies have, on a local, state and federal level, joined in sharing information better and collecting intelligence better. They've become a lot better about informing the public.
So we are safer now, and — rest assured — every time there's a thwarted plot, it's because some agencies have worked together to see to it that it doesn't happen.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
(Answers have been edited for clarity and length.)
(Correction: A previous version of this post identified the Inland Regional Center as a government building. The post has been updated.)
State water agencies release new conservation proposals
California has been grappling with drought for roughly five years now.
Many have done our fair share cutting back on water use, but water officials are worried that the state might not be quite where we need to be. That's the motivation behind a series of new conservation proposals released Wednesday aimed at making water conservation a way of life in California.
This week, a host of agencies released a series of proposals aimed at doing just that. Max Gomberg works with one of those groups. He's the water conservation and climate change manager at the State Water Resources Control Board. He shared the group's proposals with Take Two.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
LGBT people fear who may be in Trump's cabinet
President-elect Donald Trump promised to support the LGBT community on the campaign trail.
"I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of the hateful foreign ideology," he proclaimed at this year's GOP convention.
But activists say his potential cabinet is overwhelmingly connected to anti-LGBT causes, and they're worried that Trump's team will work to rollback on the rights and progress that LGBT people have gained in the past several years.
"How can Donald Trump say that he is supportive of LGBT people if these are the people he chooses to surround himself with?" says
.
Attorney General candidate Jeff Sessions is one reason for people's concern.
"As the Attorney General of Alabama, he was actively trying to stop an LGBT conference from happening at the University of Alabama," says Grindley. "This is the person you're supposed to go to for justice."
Even Elaine Chao is drawing fire as the pick for Transportation Secretary, despite transportation and infrastructure having nothing to do with LGBT issues.
But activists say that her tenure as Labor Secretary in the George W. Bush administration included efforts against LGBT employees. Plus, her husband is Republican Senator Mitch McConnell.
"McConnell, in the Senate, has been no friend to LGBT people," says Grindley. "He's voted against hate crimes laws and voted against the employment non-discrimination act which ensures we can't be discriminated against in hiring and firing."
He adds that he doesn't believe Trump's promises on the campaign trail are enough.
"I guess we're supposed to be grateful that he wants us to stop from being murdered, but this is a really low bar," he says. "We can still be fired for having a picture of our husband on our desk."
Hear more of the conversation by clicking the audio player above.
Los Angeles is ripe territory for finding fossils
Just before Thanksgiving, Metro workers found themselves swept back in time. While tunneling the route of the Purple Line, they dug up a tusk, teeth and part of a skull belonging to an ancient mastodon or mammoth.
It's not the first — or the last — time this has happened. Fossil finds are a periodic occurrence in the area in the Miracle Mile area, which is rich with such deposits.
So what did Metro do next? Here's how it works whenever this happens.
1. Work Stops
During digs, Metro has someone on-site, 24/7 for just such an occurrence. When any fossils are found, work in the immediate area stops until the fossil(s) can be safely removed.
2. They Call An Expert
In this case, it's paleontologist Kim Scott, who works for Cogstone Resource Management. Metro has a contract with the company, which specializes in evaluating paleontological, geological and archaeological finds.
Take Two's A Martinez spoke with Scott, who tells him him finds like the recent pre-Thanksgiving one are common.
"I've been doing paleontology in California for about 20 years now," she says. "And typically once you get about ten feet deep you start finding ice age animal bones. That's in our valleys. Now if you go to hill and you have older sediments, well that's different. But in our valleys: Go ten feet down and you'll start hitting elephants. The good news is it takes a lot of dirt to end up with something. So we do find them on construction sites."
3. The Fossils Get Cleaned Up
Fossil finds are removed from the area, cleaned up and prepared for study. The process can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on the condition of the bones. In the meantime, the area where the bones are found is monitored because where there's one ancient mastodon tooth there might be another.
"The tusk and the skull have both been removed already, so they've been taken from the area," Scott tells Take Two. "We will monitor that area very carefully for more bone. Because once you get a couple bones, you might have a bone bed. We now have two known individuals so there's a good chance we'll se more fossils. But right now the skull is waiting to get transported to our laboratory where it's going to be prepped out and made very pretty and then we can figure out if it's a mastodon like we think or a mammoth."
4. They're Sent Out For Study
If the fossils are found in asphalt, they're sent to the Natural History Museum. If they're found in tar, they're sent to the La Brea Tar Pits. Either Way, researchers finally get a chance to look at the fossils and see what they can learn.
"We find things all the time," Scott tells Take Two. "It's just that frequently, it doesn't get to the point where the media gets called out. If it's a really pretty fossil then we start saying, 'Hey. you guys can move on and get some great press for this!'"
When LACMA was building its parking lot about a decade ago, workers hit 23 separate fossil deposits. Experts at La Brea Tar Pits have been studying them ever since.
What's so special about this find?
"The fact there's been some mastodon material from this most recent find is somewhat significant because they tend to be more of a rare species," Dr. Emily Lindsey with the, assistant curator and excavation site director at the La Brea Tar Pits, tells KPCC. "We find a lot of mammoth remains but not as many mastodon remains."
Both animals are classified as Proboscideans, a group of that spans ancient elephants as well as modern day ones.
If a specimen looks promising, researchers may conduct radio-carbon dating to determine its age. We know these most recent finds come from the last Ice Age during the Pleistocene Era, but they could be as recent as 12,000 years old or they could date back 100,000 years.
To hear the full segment click the blue player above
A SoCal art exhibit presents Syria in a different light
Syria is in the news a fair amount these days.
Often the stories are about the ongoing war there, the fight against ISIS, or the refugee crisis. While those topics are certainly important, they don't present a full picture of Syria and the Syrian people.
Here in Southern California, at Cal State Fullerton's Pollak Library, a cultural exhibition aims to expand visitors' understanding of Syria.
"A Country Called Syria" is co-curated by Dania Alkhouli, a poet and writer based in Orange County, and her mother Maria Khani, an educator and senior Muslim chaplain with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
While growing up in Orange County, Alkhouli says, her friends had a lot of misconceptions about Syria. They would ask her if her family rode camels or lived in tents. "I'm like, no, we have malls and taxis and a bunch of other things."
In part, it was that kind of cultural confusion that led Alkhouli and Khani to create the exhibit.
"My mother and I were thinking, a year after the whole Syrian revolution started, what can we do to get people to know Syria, more than what they're seeing in the media, more than what they've stereotyped it as," Alkhouli says. "So we decided we wanted to put something together that would show them the culture of Syria, and what better way [to do that than with] art and history."
What started with a couple of display tables at the Huntington Beach Public Library, over the years grew into a collection of almost 500 pieces. They include musical instruments, traditional clothing, glass art and textiles.
Maria Khani says the exhibit is also designed with Syrians living in America in mind, to provide them with a reminder of the places they remember that now have been damaged or destroyed.
"I want to bring something close to the heart of the Syrian people here. That they can bring their kids and talk about this is where we come from, this is where your grandma grew up, or where I used to go," Khani says. "Presenting these items is connecting this generation and the future generation with the history that probably is gone now, unfortunately."
To hear the full interview, click the blue player above.
"A Country Called Syria" is currently on display at Cal State Fullerton through December 21st. Admission is free. More information on the exhibit and the "After Spring" documentary film screening on December 4th is available here.
'Always Shine' explores the darker side of female friendships
The film "Always Shine" revolves around two friends Anna and Beth. Both women are young, pretty and blonde. Both are aspiring actresses.
But that's where the similarities seem to end.
Anna is tough, fierce but her career isn't going much of anywhere. Beth is a frail ingenue and her career seems to be on fire.
The two go on vacation together in Big Sur to reconnect, but it doesn't take long before Anna's envy rises to the surface.
"Always Shine" is a riveting thriller about the perils of competition and the complexities of being a woman.
The film was directed by Sophia Takal and Actress Mackenzie Davis plays Anna. The two spoke with Alex Cohen about the movie and the darker side of female friendship.
Interview Highlights
This film is a real exploration, in a lot of ways, of what it means to be a woman. Can you talk a little bit about what that means to you?
Sophia: "For me, growing up and through my twenties, I felt that I had been fed this very specific idea of what it meant to be a woman. This really small box of femininity that I was told I had to fit into and those were images that I received from movies and magazines and television shows that said I had to look a certain way, be super skinny, be very shy, unopinionated...
Through my twenties, I was trying to be an actress and having a really hard time coping with the success of my other female friends who I felt embodied this idea of femininity more effortlessly. That's sort of where the idea for making 'Always Shine' came from, which was this struggle that I was starting to examine and explore critically and also through talking to other women who said that they had similar feelings. Feeling like they do not fit in to this idea of the right way of being a woman..."
Which seems to be amplified in Hollywood, right?
Mackenzie: "I think a really clever thing that Larry Levine, who wrote the screenplay did is, use the actress identity sort of as a trojan horse to fit all of these other messy parts of being a woman into one sort of archetypal package because actresses are required to present a very complete clean version of femininity."
That whole notion of women and how competitive we can be with one another, what are your feelings about that?
Mackenzie: "I think...the movie as a whole is emblematic of a culture that creates this idea of a scarcity of opportunity which makes people competitive. I mean, it's a great capitalistic system and it makes people competitive and to feel like if somebody has something that they want, then there's only one of those and they need to destroy that person or develop a horrible wart of indignation. I think there's a really strategic element to female competition...competition for mates, competition for professional opportunities, for social opportunities..."
That's kind of the uglier side of female friendship and is that okay to talk about in this day and age?
Sophia: I think it's really important to talk about the ugly things inside of us. One thing in particular, I think women feel a lot of pressures to be perfect and to never have any negative emotions whatsoever. And I think we have a lot of negative emotions and I tend to suppress those negative feelings in order to seem perfect. But I think that the most important thing is to talk about these feelings that we're ashamed of or that we think are ugly or despicable and to just acknowledge them and breathe through them and make art out of them if we are privlidged enough to do so.
The only way to move through and to be supportive and supported, for me, is to really just acknowledge and not judge the bad things. Like, if I'm feeling jealous of Mackenzie to just be like 'That's just my jealousy popping up and that's okay, I'm allowed to feel jealous.' And then I'm able to connect with her on a deeper level than if I was just pretending that that jealousy didn't exist and having to just like, act."
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.
Answers have been edited for time and clarity.